


201X

by Shanoodle



Category: MOTHER: Cognitive Dissonance, Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound
Genre: Aliens, Burns, Fire, Other, apocalypse au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-05-20
Packaged: 2018-03-31 09:32:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3972937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shanoodle/pseuds/Shanoodle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Universal Cosmic Destroyer has plunged the world into chaos and destruction. Three survivors -- a young woman and two kids -- brave it together. But the Eyes of Giygas are always watching, and soon, they find themselves on the run.</p>
            </blockquote>





	201X

The three of us sit huddled together inside the remains of a house, watching a man run past the broken windows. An eyeball supported by two legs as pink as burnt skin chases him, its feet landing with  _thu-rips_  against the ground. I hear one of them trip and fall. A rattling begins, and the man chokes out a moan before silence falls. The next moment, the Eye passes by the house again, and the man follows after it, engulfed in red flames thick enough to hide his body.

The Eyes always look for people like him. People like us. They wait on cliffs and hills,  watching ruined cities and towns for any sign of life. And when they do, they hunt that sign down like wolves and corrupt it. No matter how fast it runs, the Eyes always catch up. I’ve heard rumors whispered among other survivors that Giygas can see everything through them – like cameras – and that seeing his face inside them is what drives people mad. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but regardless, most people hide from them inside old buildings, only going out for food or water.

All of us – me, a young girl with freckles on her pale face and a young boy with dark skin and a missing tooth – stand up. I call them Freckles and Toothless, and they call me Mom. They know my real name, but they’ve never told me theirs. I don’t think they even know. But in the end, names don’t matter. They belong in the past.

I smooth out the wrinkles on my pink dress. The Eye’s probably returned to the town by now. I turn to the kids and press a finger to my lips. They nod. Facing back toward the door, I get up and start tiptoeing around the debris. Something crashes in another room. Toothless yelps, and I freeze. The sounds echo throughout the house.

We don’t dare move. Occasionally, an explosion roars far in the distance, but the only sound otherwise is our breathing. Nothing comes running toward us, though. And after a couple minutes pass, we relax.

Behind me, one of the kids’ stomachs growl, and their growling sets off mine.

“Stay here,” I mutter to them. “I’m going to go scrounge for food.”

“Can’t we go with you, Mom?” Toothless replies.

“You can’t just leave us here,” Freckles says. “Heck, that Eye we saw earlier might still be out there. It might’ve brought more Eyes to take you and sneak up on us when you leave. We have to stick–”

“Calm down,” I reply, raising my hand and making sparks of blue jump around it. “You know I can handle myself. And even if they do sneak in, you can find a place to hide in until they leave. You’re smart and strong. I promise you’ll be okay.”

Frowning, they climb over the debris, run up, and fling their arms around me. I hold them close and kiss their foreheads.

“I gotta go now. Again, I’ll be back in a moment. You guys stay safe.”

The kids let go and take refuge behind a couch that had been crushed under a fallen beam. I smile at them, turn around, and slip out of the house.

Cracks and holes fill the street. All that remains of the block except for this house, one next door, and a few buildings at the end of it is rubble and dust. Though the other buildings in downtown Onett remain standing, towering over the rest of town, they’re as lifeless as everything else. Dark clouds blanket the sky, covering the stars; a few twinkle within the openings, like winking eyes. Amidst the woods nearby, humans corrupted by the Eyes wander, leaving trails of fire behind.

Usually, if they see survivors, corrupted humans will spend a few seconds staring at them before giving chase. But it’s better to be safe than dead, so I duck behind the side of the house, climb in a window on the house next door, and climb out another window on the opposite end of it.

A restaurant about as large as the house lies ahead. Beside it towers a sign with a hamburger painted on the front. My stomach growls a second time. All the meat inside will have spoiled by now, but with any luck, there might be a vending machine I can break into.

As I get closer, something blue darts past one of the side windows. I growl at it. Nothing’s ever simple. At least I can kill whatever-it-is within the safety of the restaurant.

I take a spot beside the window, pressing my back against the wall. Scooting closer, I turn my head and look inside.

A blue-skinned creature with more tentacles than an octopus stands in front of the cash register, yanking out dollar after dollar. Its eyestalks wobble and brush against the guitar case strapped to its back. Behind it stands a Mr. Saturn in a cowboy hat, a humanoid covered in black and red metal, and a flying saucer the size of a manhole cover.

I crouch under the window, flexing my fists. Taking on one isn’t a problem, but all four together will kill me before I even think about using PSI. I inch my head over the window sill. Unless they split up, I’ll have to wait for them to leave.

“Why are you taking human money?” the metalman speaks in a drone.

“Umm,” the squidthing mumbles, turning an eyestalk toward its friend. “It looks cool?”

“Aw, don’t tell me you’re starting a collection, man,” says the flying saucer.

“So what if I am?!”

I scrunch my forehead. Maybe I could take these four after all.

“This is all time better spent exploring these ruins,” the metalman says, turning and walking away. “Come, Alinivar.”

“But, Larice!”

“ _Come_.”

Alinivar’s eyestalks sag as everyone follows after Larice. Their feet thud – or make a  _sklish-sklish_  sound in Alinivar’s case – further down the street. They grow quieter and quieter each second, while the crackling of flames grows louder and louder. I spin around.

A corrupted human in red flames stumbles toward me. They raise their hands and shoot a crate-sized blast of PK Fire. I roll out of the way, and the human’s attack blows through the wall and sets the restaurant’s interior ablaze.

Jumping to my feet, I extend an arm and imagine ice encasing the human. A gust of wind swirls around them, blowing their flames away. And the next moment, a blue light flashes, and a pillar of ice pierces the human. They twitch once, then stop moving. Despite being on fire, their skin remains, though it’s charred from head to toe.

I turn back toward the restaurant. Smoke billows out of the windows and the holes in the walls, rising high into the air. Someone a mile away could see it.

Hitching my breath, I bolt back toward the house.

* * *

By the time I reach it, horde after horde of corrupted humans are sluggishly making their way past the trees, and a trio of Eyes from up north are charging toward me.

“Out of the house!” I shout. “We gotta get moving! Let’s go!”

Toothless and Freckles burst out, look around, and take off with me toward downtown Onett. Their screams fill the air. Images of faces in red rush through my mind. I trip over something, and I fall, smashing my nose against the pavement. It snaps.

Tiny arms slide under my stomach, pulling me up.

“Mom, are you okay?!” Toothless asks.

“Your nose… .” says Freckles.

I touch it and immediately draw my hand back. There aren’t any doctors left in the world to readjust it. Clenching my teeth, I stand.

“I’ll be fine,” I reply, looking back at the humans and the Eyes. They’ve almost reached the house. “We gotta keep moving. Come on.”

We continue on past a row of rubble. A single building stands next to a fallen signpost at the very end. I glance back. The Eyes are only a couple seconds behind us. And when we round the corner, the lead Eye leaps at us, bumping its foot against Freckles’s back and landing across the street. The alien turns around and rattles at us.

“Get inside that building, quick,” I say. “I’ll hold it back.”

“But what if you–” Toothless begins in a quiet voice.

“I said ‘get inside!’”

The Eye jumps forward as the kids scramble inside. I launch a blast of PK Freeze; a block of ice encases the Eye midair and promptly drops to the ground. I back into the building. The ice shakes, and the Eye smashes its way through. I slam the door; the alien thuds against it. Toothless yelps.

It appears again in a shattered window beside the door. It slips a leg through. I lift both hands, close my eyes, and imagine a barrier of ice covering the wall in front of me. Wind blows around me. My arms and legs wobble, but I stay standing. Crackling sounds fill the air, and a loud rattle echoes throughout the room. I open my eyes, and the ice barrier is there, covering the wall and holding part of the Eye’s leg. Outside, the alien struggles to escape with its free one.

“I think we’d better go find a place to hide,” Freckles says. “Maybe a basement or a closet.”

“Good idea,” I reply. “We’d better start now before that thing gets out.”

A flight of stairs lays at the other end of the room. We climb up it, and at the top is a hallway with rooms on both sides, their doors either lying on the floor or missing completely. I enter the nearest one on the left, and Toothless and Freckles follow me inside, breathing hard. The ice downstairs shatters, and footsteps  _thu-rip_  up the stairs.

I look around. Another door sits in an adjacent wall beside a bed covered with dust and bits of the ceiling. A single window – unbroken – leads outside.

Turning to the kids, I say, “You two get inside that closet. I’ll fend off the Eye.”

“But–” Toothless begins, then coughs into his hand. Sweat slides down the boy’s face.

“Come on, you little coughdrop,” Freckles interrupts, opening the closet door and stepping inside. “Do what Mom says. We can’t help her. ”

Toothless frowns, coughs again, and follows her. He closes the door.

I lean my head around the corner, looking down the hallway. An Eye’s shadow inches its way further upstairs, rattling softly.

_Thu-rip. Thu-rip._

One of the Eye’s feet appears in the hallway. I duck back inside.

_Thu-rip. Thu-rip._

I flex my fists. If I’m lucky, the Eye will check the opposite room first, and I can kill it while its back is turned.

_Thu-rip. Thu-rip._

I slip behind the wall and poke my head around. My nose bumps the doorway, and I bite my lip, holding back a moan. The Eye stops between my room and the other. The alien turns its head up and unleashes a cry loud enough to hurt my ears. I cover them, shutting my eyes as tight as possible. After it finishes, I open them back up. The Eye starts turning toward the right . . .

… and behind me, the window shatters, and something lands on the floor. I spin around, and I find a second Eye glaring at me. Turning stiff, I raise a hand. Pink light ripples and flashes in the alien’s pupil. My eyes stare into it, and I can't turn them away; it's like they're thinking for themselves. Every part of me starts wobbling. All I can do is mouth the word “no” over and over as I sink to the floor, losing the energy to even move. My eyelids sink with me. The Eye’s rattling fades.

“Leave her alone!” I hear a voice shout, sounding as though it were far away. Something thuds, and something else buzzes. But the sounds – along with everything else – are soon gone.

* * *

Someone is shaking my shoulder.

“Mom, please! Wake up!”

I open my eyes and utter a moan. Freckles stands above me, her own eyes wide and lined with tears.

_Eyes._

I shoot up and look around. Toothless sits in the corner, staring at his hands. At his feet lays the Eyes. Strands of electricity jump across their charred bodies.

“It’s okay, Mom,” Freckles says. “They’re gone now.”

I look at the Eyes, then at Toothless, then back to the Eyes.

“Toothless,” I say. “What happened?”

Without facing me, he begins in a murmur, “I saw that thing put you to sleep. And …” He takes a breath. “ … I couldn’t just let it take you. So I ran out.”

“And then what happened?”

“I was all hot and felt like I was gonna puke earlier. But when I was going to punch one, it felt like something left my brain, and I didn’t feel sick anymore, and then there was a bunch of lightning on my hand.” He points to the Eye. “And I did that.”

I stand up and stumble toward him. “But they could’ve killed you, y'know?”

Toothless nods. “I do, and I wouldn’t make any other choice even if I’d Niiue.” He pauses. “I mean 'knew.’ I dunno why I said that.”

I kneel down, fling my arms around Toothless, and hold him tight. He hugs back, burying his face into my shoulder. Eventually, he lets go. I don’t.

“Hey, Mom?” Freckles asks.

“Hm?”

“How’s your nose feeling?”

I release Toothless. “It’s doing … well, it’s better than before.”

“Maybe Toothless can fix it! If he could make lightning, it couldn’t be that hard to heal things too.”

“Don’t be so sure. He’s only used PSI once.”

 _He can use PSI._ The thought repeats itself again and again.

Toothless looks up, sniffles, and says, “I can try.”

“Are you sure?” I reply. “That PK Thunder must’ve taken a lot out of you.”

“Please, Mom? I want you to feel better.”

My heart swells, and I ruffle his greasy brown hair. “If you want. But I really do feel fine.”

If his attempt doesn't work, I don’t know how much more I’ll have to fake feeling fine. I want it to work, but Toothless is still a kid, and he’s new to PSI. I had more experience as a kid, and I couldn’t learn how, even when I had an old boyfriend –someone strong enough to revive people – try to teach me.

I let go. Toothless takes a breath, shuts his eyes, and lays a finger on my nose. A jolt of pain runs through it, but I keep quiet. And we wait.

Half a minute passes, and my nose still hurts. Toothless’s forehead is scrunched up, and he’s sweating again. A spark of green twinkles on the tip of his fingernail, growing and shrinking over and over.

But with a grunt from Toothless, the light doubles in size. Warmth sinks into my nose, surrounding and dissolving the pain like an amoeba. And without any movement from us, it snaps back into place.

Toothless opens his eyes, widening them a second later.

“I did it,” he murmurs.

“Yes, sweetie,” I murmur back. “You did it.”

Freckles steps over, looking back and forth between us. “He did it,” she says.

“You did it,” a hoarse voice whispers from down the hall. A shadow appears on the wall outside, and a pale tentacle grabs hold of the doorway.

“Get back,” I say, getting to my feet. Freckles and Toothless cram themselves into a corner.

An alien limps into the room, its woolly body making shuffling sounds against the floor. Two grapefruit-shaped eyes stacked on top of each other look me over.

“My, you look nice,” the creature says. “Oh yes, nice enough to eat.” Its eyes glow.

“Duck!” I shout and fling myself to the floor. A pair of beams fly overhead and hit the wall. The creature angles its eyes toward me, and I roll out of the way. Its attack burns a trail across the floor, still heading in my direction. I keep rolling, this time toward the alien. And I plant my foot into the alien’s body and knock it down.

It warbles and starts pulling itself back up. I extend a hand and try PK Freeze, and the next moment, the alien is frozen in a crouching stance. The glow in its eyes fades away.

“What the heck was that?” Freckles says.

“No clue,” I reply, “but it’s dead now, and we’d better leave before any of its friends show up.”

“G-guys?” Toothless says.

“What is it?”

“Shouldn’t those people have gotten to us by now?”

He’s right. They should’ve at least torched this building minutes ago. Tensing up, I run to the window and look below.

A few yards down the street, the aliens I saw in the restaurant earlier are running toward a building near the woods. A horde of corrupted humans are chasing them and shooting blast after blast of PK Fire. Larice sticks behind the group, firing beams out of their tentacle arms; they pierce several humans, killing them instantly. Aliens – metalmen like Larice in cracked armor, woolly creatures like the one that just attacked us, and creatures like Alinivar – charge out of the woods up ahead, led by several Eyes.

I shake my head. This is no world for anybody, much less kids. And there’s no way out, except one.

Sighing, I look up. Most of the clouds have cleared for now. And the stars wink at me.

“With them distracted like this, we might be able to get to the hill.”

“But where will we go after that?” Freckles replies. “There’s just an old house up there.”

I smile. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

* * *

We head back downstairs and out of the building. A couple of humans wait for us, left behind by the horde, but Toothless and I easily kill them.

Soon, we leave Onett and come across a pair of houses sitting side by side. The one on the left’s destroyed, but the one on the right still stands, looking as though nothing had changed. I slow down.

_Ness._

My mind makes an image of Ness’s face, blowing his curly hair out of his eyes. Red flames engulf him, and his mouth opens in a scream. It soon changes to Mom, then Dad, then all the kids I helped while they were in preschool. The flames engulf them too.

_I hope you all can understand._

“Mom, are you okay?” Freckles says. “We shouldn’t be sticking around here.”

I look ahead. The kids have slowed down too, staring at me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

The kids let me catch up, and once they’re beside me, their hands slip inside and squeeze mine.

“We’re all going to be fine,” I murmur.

We continue up the hill, edging past craters and dead trees. At the top, a trio of corrupted humans stare down at us, their bodies covered in blue flames; I can barely see their faces. One of them aims a hand and shoots a boulder-sized fireball at us. I jump, shoving the kids forward. Light flashes. An explosion roars behind us, knocking the kids and I to the ground. Heat fills the air, singeing my skin.

“Get out of sight!” I say.

We roll up to a rock wall. More fire strikes the spot we were just in, causing another explosion. Two tire-sized craters now sit near each other, and smoke rises out of them.

“Do we really have to come up here?!” Toothless loudly whispers. “Those things almost killed us.”

“It’s the easiest way,” I reply.

“What do you–” Freckles begins, stopping when I raise my hand.

“Stay along the wall. If it gets too low, run to the next one as quick as you can. You got that?”

“Now hang on a sec–”

_“Freckles.”_

Freckles opens her mouth but hesitates. And then she narrows her eyes and says, “Yeah, Mom. I got that.”

We slide along the wall. More and more fire roars over our heads, blowing chunks of ground all around us apart. The kids behind me murmur about something. What it is, I don’t know. Judging by how shaky Toothless’s voice is, the kids are probably scared. They shouldn’t have to live in fear every day, but at least it’ll end soon.

The kids and I manage to make it past an empty house. Freckles now carries a stick  as large as a baseball bat. Shouting, we start running up the rest of the hill. Two of the humans jump down and rush to meet us, while the third remains and hurls fireballs.

A buzzing fills the air, and Toothless shoots PK Thunder at the one staying behind. The attack instead zooms over their head and toward the sky.

Freckles takes one on the right, and I take the other. Everywhere I look, everywhere I turn, fire’s flying through the air. Crackling and buzzing and roaring drown out every other sound.

Without looking, I reach a hand out. And the next moment, it’s in flames. I choke back a scream and flood it full of PK Freeze. And when I look, my enemy’s in a block of ice. The pain disappears along with every other feeling. A moment later, I spring toward Freckles.

She backs the other one toward a cliff at the other end of the hill, her weapon raised. Its end has caught fire. The human reaches for her, and Freckles slams her stick into their stomach and knocks them off.

The air is quiet. Freckles and Toothless stumble to me, panting.

“Your hand, Mom,” Toothless whispers. Raising an eyebrow, I look down at it, and I gasp.

It’s charred up to the wrist. My fingernails have blackened, and the tips are crumbling to the ground.

“Let me heal it, Mom,” Toothless whispers, reaching for my hand. I dart it away.

“It’ll be fine.”

“But–”

“Trust me. Healing won’t make a difference in a moment anyway.”

Toothless looks at me, then to Freckles, then back to me. “Okay, Mom.” His bottom lip trembles.

We climb up the rest of the way in silence. Freckles carries her stick along. And at the top, we discover a pink seashell protruding from the center of the hill. The letters “XX” are carved into the surface. It hums like a computer.

“Mom,” Freckles says. “What’s that?”

“I don’t know,” I reply. “But we’d better not touch it. Who knows what it does?”

We step up to the very edge of the hilltop. Below, the ocean’s waves wash over the rocks.

“Why did you bring us up here?” Freckles says.

I take a breath and place my hands on their backs. “You know I love you very much, right?”

The kids look at each other.

“We love you too, Mom,” Toothless replies.

“And you know I just want what’s best for you, right?”

“Of course we do.”

The world blurs, and I close my eyes. “Maybe you’ll understand someday. But this is for the best.”

I start to push …

… and something hot slams me in the stomach, and the next thing I know, I’m on the ground. My eyes shoot open.

Freckles glares down at me, raising her stick. Her knuckles are white and trembling. Toothless stands at her side.

“What gives you the right to do that?!” Freckles yells. “'Someday we’ll understand?’ We understand perfectly, and we’re not gonna let you do it.”

Groaning, I get to my feet.

“Why? There’s nothing for us here. Nothing but fighting.”

“And we’ll fight as long as we have to. With or without you.”

“But it’s hopeless, you idiot!” Tears start to stream down my face. “What are we fighting for? All that’s left is ruins. All that’s left is a bunch of puppets that were our friends and family once. I’m not killing another one. Ever.”

Freckles gapes at me.

“Toothless,” I say. “You understand, don’t you? Everything frightens you. At any moment, some monster could kill us all. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all just end it? Right now?”

Toothless looks down, mouthing something. Freckles scoots closer and takes his hand in hers. She whispers in his ear.

“My name’s Sammy,” Toothless mutters, lifting his head back up. “And I don’t want to go with you." Tears run down his face too.

I clench my fists. "What did you say?”

“I said, 'I don’t want to go with you!’”

“Freckles, what did you tell him?”

“My name’s not Freckles. It’s Angela. And what I told him’s none of your business, 'Mom.’”

“You… .”

I growl and point both my hands toward them. But already, electricity’s crackling around Toothless’s. Blasts of PK Thunder launch from his fingertips and strike me dead on. All I can see is light. Spasming violently, I land back on the ground. The rest of my skin has turned pink, and my dress is charred black. Everything hurts. I can’t move. My eyelids fall.

In the distance, the kids sob.

* * *

My head throbs. Pain everywhere. It’s weaker now, but I groan anyway. Opening my eyes, I try to lean up, but the strength isn’t there. It’s like PK Thunder zapped all the energy I had. The sobbing’s gone; all I hear is the hum of the seashell, which seems louder now.

I grip the grass at my sides and watch the clouds roll by. Occasionally, stars appear. They don’t wink anymore.

_Thu-rip. Thu-rip._

I freeze.

_Thu-rip. Thu-rip._

Another eye surrounded by pink skin replaces the ones in the sky. I stare into it. Inside, a face red as blood stares back, its mouth locked in a scream. It lunges forward.

And I’m on fire.


End file.
